Title: Scent of the Beast
Author: Ron Chinchen
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 9781543406122
Pages: 704
Genre: Fiction/Horror
Reviewed by: Susan Milam
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
Author Ron Chinchen worked as a parole officer for thirty-four years, and doubtless that occupation helped him craft the characters that populate SCENT OF THE BEAST. The book’s fully realized diverse cast is but one of the tale’s many strengths. In addition, Mr. Chinchen knows how to build suspense, bring horrific creatures to terrifying life and draws several storylines together into a coherent whole.
In 2069, six-year-old Reba moves with her father to an isolated village in West New Guinea. Far away from life’s modern conveniences, Reba lives a happy and carefree life as the lone pale-skinned child among the darker-skinned Melanesian children in the village. Soon, however, even the young girl recognizes the growing tension amongst the village’s adults. One day the tension breaks open into outright horror, when vicious creatures attack the village and begin ripping its occupants limb from limb. With his last breaths, Reba’s father yells for her to seek safety at the top of the monkey bars. Reba is joined there by Keiji, a boy from the village. The next morning, the two children – the only survivors of the attack – are rescued.
Nearly twenty years later, in Australia, a mysterious cabal convenes to set the final stages of a long-range plan in motion. Meanwhile, in the Kimberley, West Australia, Major Julian Lee and his colleagues investigate the sinking of three ships off the coastline of the sparsely populated territory. At the same time, Jake and a ragtag team look into possible suspicious biker gang activity in the area and the lack of communication from several small communities in the region.
Mr. Chinchen has chosen the location for the story’s main action wisely. He is obviously fluent with the locale, and it hasn’t been overly used by other writers. Plus, for many readers, the continent of Australia brings with it visions of Mad Max and Picnic At Hanging Rock. Still, whatever notions folks may bring to the book, Mr. Chinchen refuses to deal in stereotypes. He presents a number of well-developed female characters, both good and evil, and he gives meaty parts to the Williams sisters, indigenous women with the nicknames Belle, Toxic and Go-To. In addition, although the sinister cabal is helmed by a Melanesian man named Satu, he never becomes a one-dimensional inscrutable villain.
Scent of the Beast is classified as a tale of horror, and it certainly doesn’t lack in that regard. The reader is thrust almost immediately into a bloody attack by terrifying beasts in which a village is decimated. However, the book’s subplots would fit neatly into the action and conspiracy genres. It speaks to Mr. Chinchen’s talent as a storyteller that he is able to meld these plotlines into a unified book which builds toward a terrifying climax.
Ron Chinchen has written a book which works on multiple levels. As advertised, Scent of the Beast is scary. It presents numerous authentic characters from a wide swath of society. It keeps readers turning pages as the suspense continually mounts. Mr. Chinchen has spoken of wanting to write more books. After reading Scent of the Beast, no doubt his readers will hope that he does.
